Dwarf Courgettes and Stunted Sweetcorn

Looks quite promising from the outside

but rather disappointing on the inside

Courgettes were looking very good to start with, but never grew very large, and most of them rotted.

Vegetable Madness

During my week in York, my vegetables have been growing wild. I came back to find that the rucola and the courgettes were practically taking over the garden. The fennel is growing onwards and upwards (I should really admit defeat and pull it up now) and the new beans I planted are taking off.

Even the corn looks like it's progressing, despite the fact that checking in my vegetable growing bible (Carol Klein's Grow your own veg), I discovered that really corn should be planted in a square of at least 4 x 4 plants (not the paltry two survivors that I have) if they are going to successfully fruit. Ah, well, we'll see.


Reading on, I have also discovered how to sex the courgette flowers. Not a subject I had previously given much though, but it turns out to be ridiculously easy - flowers with a courgette on the end are female (photo on left), the others are male (photo on right).

Finally, because I know Arie has been waiting for it all week, here is my first ever carrot! Perhaps I could have left it in the ground a little longer, but despite (or perhaps because of) it's small size, it was very tasty indeed! I think I'll wait a little while longer before I pull up the other two.


The grapes are also progressing nicely, by the way.

Veggie Update

Basil

Courgette

Corn

Beans

Dinner tonight - pasta with feta cheese and homegrown beans and mint.

Potatoes

Another exciting moment in the world of gardening - I've just harvested my first ever potatoes!